Product info

Lion of Barbary - Felis leo barbaricus

Information: This is an antique print by Carl Brodtmann, the renowned Swiss lithographer. It is over 175 years old and is not a reproduction.
Brodtmann's lithographs are detailed, accurately drawn and beautifully composed. Many other antique prints of animals (by Buffon for example) are exaggerated and do not bear comparison. For this reason, original Brodtmann antique prints are very difficult to find these days.
Many poster shops sell reproductions of Brodtmann prints for little less than we are selling this original and rare antique print.
Date: 1827
Source The Natural History of Mammals
Print method: Stone lithograph on high quality, thick, matt paper with hand coloring.
This print is an early example of a stone lithograph. Stone lithography was accidentally discovered by a young actor who, in order to save spending too much on copper engraving plates, tried to print using a smooth limestone he took from a street in Munich. He had stumbled upon a marvelous printing technique which was soon being used by famous artists such as Goya, and later Manet and Degas.
Lithography has always been surrounded by a certain mystique. Partly this is due to the fact that even today the complexities of the chemical reactions have yet to be fully understood, but mainly it is because the early workshops veiled their methods in secrecy.
Size: 13 by 9½ inches ( 32½ by 24cm). The border around the print is larger than shown in the scan above as the print was larger than our scanner bed.